Jan. 28, 2014

The General Assembly is considering several bills that environmentalists oppose. / The Star file photo

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The state legislature is in session, so you can assume, with confidence, that Indiana’s already fragile and battered environment is taking another beating. It happens every year at the Statehouse, where powerful special interests representing factory farms push cringe-worthy pieces of legislation filled with gifts for the industry.

It’s a fact of life that doesn’t always get heavy attention but does leave behind a heavy stench, both in the literal and figurative sense.

One of this year’s most troublesome bills recently raced through the state Senate with little trouble and looks likely to do the same in the House, barring the type of negative attention that has helped kill a few other pieces of awful public policy in recent years. The bill (Senate Bill 186) essentially seeks to give factory farms — say, large-scale pig and poultry outlets — a significant advantage over the rest of us in regulatory, zoning and courtroom debates, as if they didn’t already have that advantage over average citizens.

So, yes, to be clear, a state that ranks near the bottom on so many core environmental fronts, a state where factory farms are already treated with kid gloves, is looking to make things even worse.

Senate Bill 186, along with its companion, House Bill 1200, has bled out of the push in recent years to put a so-called “right to farm” amendment in the state constitution. This amendment was insincerely pitched last year as a way to honor the state’s long and treasured agricultural history. But it was in fact an attempt to give concentrated animal feeding operations a leg up when it comes time for juries, local governments and regulatory bodies to make decisions. It would have put in the constitution a special protection for such farms, making it even more difficult for the state to restrict their actions or for neighbors to seek justice when harmed by, say, animal waste discharges.

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The good news is that those lawmakers pushing the idea, backed by Indiana Farm Bureau and major CAFO companies, seem to have backed away from their plan to put it in the constitution. The bad news is that they have simply transferred the language to a more traditional bill that now has a good chance of becoming state law.

A law isn’t as damaging as a constitutional amendment. But it’s bad nonetheless.

“These bills, if they pass, will in effect have the same adverse impacts,” Ferraro said. “They are directing courts, regulators and any other official body on how to interpret the code, how to enforce it, act on it and decide a case.”

By declaring, as Sen. Carlin Yoder’s Senate Bill 186 does, that “the Indiana code shall be construed to protect the rights of farmers to choose among all generally accepted farming and production practices,” Ferraro said factory farms would forever have a defense against charges of environmental or health damages. She referred to a case in which a manure lagoon created by a CAFO was damaging a neighboring landowner. Under current law, a judge could order the CAFO to rectify the situation. But under Senate Bill 186, it appears “the judge would not be able to make that ruling.”

Remember, something can be a “generally accepted practice” and still do serious harm to others. Why remove the possibility that those harmed would be left defenseless? Moreover, why restrict local zoning and land-use bodies from making decisions that are best for their communities, as many believe this bill would do?

It’s definitely mind-boggling. Yet the bills move forward. And they are not alone. Once again, lawmakers are seeking laws this year that would make it hard to expose wrongdoing on factory farms or to continue effective clean air programs.

The bottom line? The Indiana General Assembly is in session. And that means Indiana’s environment is taking a beating.